What my 3 year old says when the gears in his head are spinning. So this is a place for me to "spin my gears" (post my thoughts)... OK, fast forward 3 years because my 3 year old is now six years old. I will keep the title the same, though, in honor of his having been three years old once!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Where in the world is Christina???

Oh, yeah, I'm sure you are all wondering what happened to me?!?! Actually, I received a little "how are you" message from Dawnthrough www.orthodoxcircle.com and figured I had dropped far enough off of the face of the earth and I need to get back (BTW... if you would like to join orthodox circle let me know... and if you are already a member, why haven't you invited me to be your friend:) PLEASE know that I continue to read your blogs through bloglines, I just rarely comment...

So, what's been happening over here on our end of things....

1. Petros is getting bigger. And he's crawling. Everywhere. Oh, and his god-parents are moving into a house right behind ours!!! We are so excited!!!

2. Pavlos is, well, Pavlos. He loves preschool and he loves to paint (something that I did not know until he started preschool... actually, I don't think he even knew that he liked to paint until he started preschool). Pavlos does not like coloring. Never has. But he loves painting. And all of his paintings are of one thing... space (the final frontier). Literally. He saw the cover to Paul's Star Trek Movie DVD and it has all sorts of colors on it so he thinks space is full of these different colors. And that is what he paints. OH... and Pavlos' current favorite song is the U2-Green Day The Saints are Coming. He is right now singing it at the top of his lungs. He likes to put on his sunglasses and pretend he is Bono...

4. Kristin/Kiera is challenging us to take the TBR Book Reading Challenge. Basically, pick twelve books that you have been meaning to read for the last six months (at least) and challenge yourself to read one a month. You can sign up at the TBR Book Reading Challenge link already posted in this blog. So here are the books that I would like to read this year:

January: Children of Dune- Frank HerbertFebruary: Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys- Dan KindlonMarch: Einstein's Dreams- Alan LightmanApril- St. Silouan the Athonite- Archim. SophronyMay- The Crimson Petal and the White- Michel FaberJune- Wounded by Love- Elder PorphyriosJuly- The Hunchback of Notre Dame- Victor HugoAugust- Genesis, Creation, and Early Man- Fr. Seraphim RoseSeptember- High Tide in Tucson- Barbara Kingsolver (I have read two chapters)October- Obedience is Life: Elder Ephraim of Katounakia- Elder Joseph of VatopaidiNovember- Dubliners- James JoyceDecember- The Old Curiosity Shop- Charles Dickens (I've had this book for almost 20 years and have not read it- I tried to read it when I was 14 but didn't get very far... this was a gift from my grandma- I think it's time I give it another shot:)

Here are other books that I will probably/want to read this year, also:God Emperor of Dune - Frank HerbertHeretics of Dune - Frank HerbertChapterhouse Dune- Frank Herbert (just to finish the series)Les Miserables- Victor Hugo (depending on how the hunchback goes)The Gulag Archipelago- Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn (ok, that's a wish list book so we shall see if I even get to it:)

5. Christmas shopping is almost finished. I am so glad that I have boys... I spent a long time looking for a church outfit for our god-daughter and ended up buying part of the outfit from a store and ordering a skirt online because I couldn't find a decent length skirt. So she will just get two packages in the mail from us:)

Thanks for reading, even though I don't post much! The picture is what I am sending out for our Christmas cards:)

HMMM - I am intrigued by your book list. I've been through the Dune series a couple times, but it has been many years. However, I STILL say the Bene Gesserit incantation about "I must not fear..." whenever I find myself in scary situations.

I positively became enthralled with "Barbara Kingsolver's" other works, Poisonwood Bible and Prodigal Summer, but I've never read "High Tide in Tucson". As an Arizona native the title makes me think I'd like it.

Me thinks it's time to hit the library - I'll probably do a few different ones than you mention, but I like the idea of getting some serious reading accomplished in this next year.

Thanks for all the comments! My sister, who is also an avid reader thinks I might be a bit ambitious... but, we shall see. But these are all books that have been on my shelf for quite some time and I feel like I won't get around to reading them until I set up a goal for myself.

I read the first Dune book when I was probably 14 but never followed up with the rest. For some reason, I picked up the first book a few months ago and decided to go through the whole series. Just because. Last year I did that with Jane Austen (read all her books).

I'll keep everyone posted as to how I do with this book a month thing (Iseriously believe that I do read at least 12 books a year...)